SALT LAKE CITY–Walter Fredrick Morrison, the man credited with inventing the Frisbee, has died. He was 90.

Utah House Representative Kay McIff, an attorney who represented Morrison in a royalties case, said Morrison died Tuesday at his home in Monroe, Utah.

"That simple little toy has permeated every continent in every country, as many homes have Frisbees as any other device ever invented," McIff said. "How would you get through your youth without learning to throw a Frisbee?"

Morrison's son, Walt, said "old age caught up" with his father and that he also had cancer.

Morrison sold the production and manufacturing rights to his "Pluto Platter" in 1957. The plastic flying disc was later renamed the "Frisbee," with sales surpassing 200 million discs. It is now a staple at beaches and college campuses and spawned sports like Frisbee golf and the team sport Ultimate.

Morrison co-wrote a book with Frisbee enthusiast and historian Phil Kennedy in 2001. Kennedy released a brief statement on Thursday, wishing his late friend "smoooooth flights."

According to Kennedy, Morrison and his future wife, Lu, used to toss a tin cake pan on the beach in California. The idea grew as Morrison considered ways to make the cake pans fly better and after serving as a pilot in the Second World War, Morrison began manufacturing his flying discs in 1948.

He would hawk the discs at local fairs and eventually attracted Wham-O Manufacturing, the company that bought the rights to Morrison's plastic discs.

Kennedy said Wham-O adopted the name "Frisbee" because that's what college students in New England were calling the Pluto Platters. The name came from the Frisbie Pie Co., a local bakery whose empty tins were tossed like the soon-to-be Frisbee.

But Morrison never liked the Frisbee name. "He thought it didn't apply to anything," Kennedy told the Washington Post.
"It was just a crazy name that didn't mean anything."
Walt Morrison said his father is survived by three children.
The family is planning a service for Morrison's friends and relatives Saturday at the Cowboy Corral in Elsinore, Utah.

MTG#10

02-13-2010, 09:04 AM

Frisbee golf rules. I cant remember who but someone here turned me on to it. Thanks whoever you are.